Thursday, June 16, 2011

2011 Tokyo Toy Show Part 2: Bandai

Next up we have Bandai's equally impressive booth. Unlike Takara, which has more of an international flavor with its collabs and cross branding (Transformers, Nerf, Playdoh, etc.), Bandai is much more of a home grown company, featuring marquee Japanese brands like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Gundam). At this year's TTS, Bandai rocked its 1st floor display, which took up the entire end of the wing.

You've got to hand it to Bandai. They sure know how to put on a show!

First up, Ultraman:

More after the jump:

Bandai had a great Ultraman display.

Eye catching smorgasbord of characters and toys!

This was classic. Push a button and hear the characters' sounds and voices!

Gokaiger:

A popular line these days!

Kamen Rider:

Kamen Rider was well represented too!

Various other Bandai lines:

Tamagotchi lives!

Run for Money board game:

"Run for Money" (逃走中) is a TV game show where contestants try to avoid capture while being pursued by MIB hunstmen. I caught an episode a while ago, and it was pretty entertaining!

He's lucky the enforcer is a mannequin, or the dude would have been tagged out in a heartbeat!

More Bandai offerings:

Anpanman was everywhere at the TTS. Dude has some great licensing chops.

These are "3D" shirts with attached images that shift as you view them from different angles.

Saint Cloth Crown:

This cartoon has a dedicated following in the places it first aired a few decades back.

Gunpla:

Bandai had a nice section dedicated to model kits.

Torico:

This goes down as the strangest and yet most mesmerizing part of the Bandai booth.

It's a glove-shaped device based on the cartoon Torico.

You put your food ingredients (potato chips, cheese, etc.) in a container on one end of the arm. Then you pump it a few times, which grates the item. Then you pop open the fist and pour out your food topping. If only Julia Childs had one of these. She'd pulverize your taste buds into submission!

Bandai board and card games:

Bandai had a bunch of tables where you could try out its Gundam card game. I was clueless, but the very nice staff helped me along. First you match your pilots with robots.

Next there's an interactive on-screen element that instructs you how to move your cards around and mash buttons. In the meantime you get to watch your bots do battle with assorted opponents on the screen.